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Montpelier — The Vermont House gave preliminary approval Friday to a bill that would change the offense of possessing up to an ounce of marijuana from a misdemeanor crime to a civil offense similar to a speeding violation.

On roll call vote of 98-44, the House endorsed the bill, which would impose a fine of as much as $300 for anyone caught with up to an ounce of the drug.

The bill also contains provisions designed to eliminate the possibility of a permanent criminal record or future collateral consequences such as ineligibility for certain jobs or government benefits for those convicted of possessing up to two ounces, or up to four plants.

The legislation now goes to the Senate, which is also expected to pass it.

A new study has revealed a link between states with legalized medical marijuana and a reduction in traffic-related fatalities. The study was conducted by D. Mark Anderson, a Montana State University economics professor, and Daniel Rees, a professor at the University of Colorado Denver.

In looking at state-level data from sources such as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Anderson and Rees discovered that states that had legalized medical marijuana saw an average of a 9 percent decrease in traffic deaths.

"We were pretty surprised that they went down," Rees told the Denver Post.

In an attempt to explain the results, Rees said that the passage of medical-marijuana laws likely resulted in young people consuming less alcohol in favor of using marijuana.

"The result that comes through again and again and again is [that] young adults ... drink less when marijuana is legalized and traffic fatalities go down," Rees told the Post.

The April issue of the scientific journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Results is scheduled to contain a report analyzing brain scans of teenage alcohol and marijuana users. The results indicate alcohol is highly destructive to the brain’s white matter- but the scans show no negative consequence from cannabis use.

The scans were performed at the beginning of the study and again at the end, 18 months later. Extensive toxicology reports were performed every six months on the study’s 92 adolescent participants. The study evaluated the brain scans only, not intelligence or behavior.

TRENTON — Police officers who are greeted at the door by someone puffing marijuana can force their way in to make an arrest, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

Four Newark cops, working on a tip from a confidential informant in 2008, were planning to go undercover to nab a drug dealer at the Riverview Court public housing projects. But they quickly blew their cover once the dealer, Rashad Walker, answered the door with a burning marijuana joint, according to the court record.

"Defendant appeared at the door smoking a marijuana cigarette," the court said. "Thus, a disorderly persons offense was being committed in the presence of police officers in the hallway of a public housing building, where the officers have a right to be."

The cops pushed their way in, arrested Walker and seized packs of marijuana, cocaine and "27 envelopes of heroin stamped ‘Horsepower’" from the living room, according to the court record.

Walker, who served half of his six-year sentence before being paroled last year, had argued that the Newark police trampled his rights under the state constitution and the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protect people from "unreasonable search and seizure" of their homes.

That is, as marijuana legalization bills have been formally introduced this month in Alabama and Pennsylvania, the number of states to see such bills this year is up to ten.

The others are Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The Hawaii and New Hampshire bills are already dead, and most of the others have stalled. Oregon’s bill, however, has been advancing quietly.

In Alabama, Rep. Patricia Todd (D-Birmingham) introduced House Bill 550, the Alabama Cannabis and Hemp Reform Act. It would allow adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and grow up to 12 plants in a secured space. Adults could share, but not sell, marijuana to other adults.

The bill is headed for the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee.

In Pennsylvania, Sen. Daylin Leach (D-17) introduced Senate Bill 528, the Regulate Marijuana Act. It would allow adults 21 and over to grow up to six plants and possess the resulting harvest. It would also allow adults to transfer up to an ounce to other adults. And it would direct the state to come up with a system to regulate and tax marijuana commerce.

PORTLAND -- The people behind a controversial marijuana billboard in downtown Portland have come up with a new message.

The original billboard (shown in photo at right) featured a photo of a glass of beer, a glass of wine, and a marijuana leaf. And below each photo, the words read: “Beer," "Wine," and "Safer," respectively. It was located at Southwest 13th Avenue and Southwest Alder Street.

The billboard went up on Thursday, March 29 and by that night, it was was no longer standing up.

Roy Kaufmann, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, which paid for the sign, said they suspected it had been vandalized. Others questioned whether the wind may have taken down the billboard. Portland police were investigating.

The Marijuana Policy Project said they designed the sign with the goal of getting people “to think about how marijuana is objectively less harmful than alcohol to consumers and the community,” Kaufmann said.

Now a new billboard has gone up that reads: "The truth cannot be destroyed."

The Marijuana Policy Project wants to get a measure on the 2016 ballot legalizing recreational marijuana in Oregon. Both Colorado and Washington passed similar bills last year.